In the Lebanon, you could say that the farmers in the south of the country have two options: to lose the harvest, or to go into the fields and be killed by an unexploded bomb, courtesy of the Israeli bombings in the conflict that finished two months ago.

In the Palestinian territories, although there are no explosives in the fields, there is a separation barrier, an endless number of checkpoints and areas where the illegal Israeli settlers interfere with the harvest on a daily basis.

“The olive and the oil are the fundamentals of the agricultural sector. And for that reason the olive grove is a basic for the Palestinian farmers “, said Abdel Jawad Saleh, ex- minister of Palestinian Agriculture to BBC World.

Although the 2006 harvest of olive trees has only just begun, already there are several complaints that individuals that cannot operate properly on their land.

Farmers Endure Hardships

“The Israeli occupation has cut down hundreds of thousands of trees. And that separation wall, in fact is not for security but to confiscate the best land in the West Bank, especially the irrigated sectors”said Abdel Jawad Saleh, ex- minister of Agriculture, to BBC World.

“Another enormous problem that we face is the illegal settlements that have been established deep into Palestinian rural areas and the settlers do not leave the farmers in peace; they attack them or uproot the trees or ruin the olives with chemical agents”.

Then there are times that the farmers have to throw olives on the ground because they do not have the right to move them, said to Saleh to BBC World from Ramallah.

Mohammed Raja, is 44 years old and lives in Burin, in the West Bank. His parcel of land has 150 olive trees, 20 almond trees and 20 vines. “We are surrounded by four settlements and have faced many problems, since the second intafada. At the beginning of this year the settlers came with sticks to ruin the plants”, he said to me in a telephone conversation.

“I cannot say to you how many problems it has been per week. 5 minutes ago my father wanted to transport two bags on the donkey. On the way they intercepted him with two cars filled with settlers. They struck the donkey and my father who jumped out of the way,” he added.

Nevertheless, the army does not have a register of these problems. “Until now it was not possible to collect this information and it has been taken advantage of; we do not have any complaint registered in the Office of Coordination “, said Hernán Jeberovich, Israeli army spokesman to BBC World.

Escorting the Farmers

As well as Israeli settlers who try to prevent access to the Palestinian farmers, there are other Israeli citizens who fight to guarantee it.

Rabbi Arik Ascherman belongs to Rabbis For Human Rights that along with other organizations, like the International Solidarity Movement or Machsom Watch, escort to the Palestinians to their land.

“We have been present in more than 30 Palestinian towns and villages from year 2002. Year after year there has been progress but it is not sufficient “, said the rabbi.

In June of this year, after an appeal made in November 2004, the Supreme Court of Israel recognized the right of access of the Palestinians to their land, under the protection of the Israeli army.

“The only way to enter the land here is by way of the settlements, is no another access. And that can be only done by coordination with the Israelis, that is where the foreigners can use their influence, but they are not constantly with us, but if we have problems we call them and they request that the army protects us “, said the farmer Mohamed Raja, of Burin, West Bank, to BBC World.

Uncomfortable Escort

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, one week ago the Israeli Defence Forces demanded that the Palestinian farmers are not escorted to their land by Israeli and foreign supporters.

Rabbi Ascherman reacted to the restrictions of the army. “I believe that the army is angry, due to the sentence of the Supreme Court. Although some commanders have recognized that we are useful, others yield to the intense pressure from the settlers”, indicated the Jewish holy man to the BBC.

On the other hand Hernán Jeberovich, an army spokesman, clarified the story. “They can accompany the farmers, if they wish to. The army does not have objections. But a very small number of areas exist where there is a lot of friction and we ask that in those areas only the farmers enter. These are for security reasons and not of ideology “, he said to BBC World.

But Rabbi Arik Ascherman does not agree. “Exactly those small areas are precisely where they need us more. In some ways we recognize that we complicate things for the army, since in effect the settlers find our presence more annoying than the presence of the Palestinians “, responded Ascherman.

“But what the army is doing is to prevent the access us to more and more extensive areas.”

Between the Sword and the Wall

Several observers agree that the situation in the West Bank better regulated and the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court indicates good will. But on land located between the new separation barrier the 1967 border of the West Bank , better known as the Green Line, the situation is different.

Salah Al Teily depends totally on agriculture. He is 44 years old and has 6 children, lives in Tulkarem and must obtain permission to go on his land. “The wall separates me from my land and we were prohibited to work it, until the foreigners took part and they obtained permission for us. But the army serves to protect to the settlers and not us.”

And it is the intervention of the NGOs that is essential for these small farmers to move onto their land. “People need special permission to enter the land located between the separation barrier and the Green Line”, said Sylvia Piterman of the NGO Machsom Watch to BBC World.

“There are whole families whom they do not recognize own property that has been worked for generations; there are also 200,000 people considered “dangerous” to whom they do not grant access; or very large families who only receive access permission for few members of their family”, explained Piterman. “things have been more difficult than in previous years”.

And what happens to land that is inaccessible? “There is an old Ottoman law; if the land is not worked it stops being property of the individuals and goes into the hands of the state. And people are quite desperate about that “, asserted Sylvia Piterman.